witcherfandomcom-20200223-history
Talk:Redania/@comment-82.143.150.15-20150823235239
I haven't heard of any official statements and I suppose they will never be made because in virtually every kingdom I can find something that resembles Poland very much. I'm Polish so I can recognise these "easter eggs" more easily than someone less familiar with our culture, history or current affairs. You made many good points, the problem is that they are ALL good points and there are similarities to be seen in other kingdoms as well. I feel like Redania is more obvious-it just fits very well with it's overall image, it can even be almost excactly of the same shape as modern Poland if you choose to support certain characters. However, in "The Wild Hunt", it's clearly Temeria that is suppossed to make us in Poland ask ourselves a few questions, to represent many of our national problems, to provoke a reflection about our own country-I'm not saying it doesn't make anybody else think about the important things in life, I can just say I clearly see that the game directly adresses things we've been struggling to deal with and discussing furiously about for at least two hundred years and we still can't agree on them. As you stated, we have a long history of ressistance. The problem is that we still can't come to terms on what amount of ressistance and sacrifice was really necessary. We have an enormous tendency to say big words, to glorify people who fought for our country for their braveness and their unbroken will to remain fighting no matter what. However, it's not a long time ago since people started to openly speak how much it costed, how many civilians' lives were ruined or lost because of that fight. Since few hundred years we've all been told that sacrificing yourself for your country is your most important duty if there ever is a need to do so-what if it isn't? What if it's just unfair that you are expected to do this? What if it isn't worth it? And if you decide to fight, do you have any right to put anyone else in danger? Do you have any right to hide in a forest near to a village and risk that it will be burnt and all it's people killed because you wanted to have your country back even though you should already know that all of this will be in vain? I can tell that you don't have to be Polish to see these problem, it's just that this debate has been going on for 150 years. In 1795 Poland was eventually annected by the neighbouring coutries. Only until 1863 we have gone through multiple uprisings, each and every one of them failed and often made the situation even worse. After all this some people said "Enough of this, we can't win anyway, not fighting three countries at the same time, so let's just stop and try to prepare for the future, let's teach the uneducated, let's try to preserve our culture and then, after some time, maybe we'll have a chance to at least gain some authonomy, and even if not, at least we'll EXIST as a nation, so shut up!" And even after we finally reclaimed our independence in 1918 we didn't have to wait much time to have something new to discuss, as during the German occupation any form of ressistance was very dangerous not only for you, but your family and neighbours as well. And, again, we have even more to talk about. When I hear a character saying things like "What good would it do if I fought?", I can hear they are really asking me "Do you agree with the message of your compulsory readings from high school? Do you still like Polish romanticism that shaped your mind and created this illusion your whole nation wants to believe in? What do you REALLY think of the Warsaw Uprising? There is this "Little Upriser" statue of a little child wearing a way too big helmet and carrying a machine gun in Warsaw, doesn't it disturb you? And what social groups do you think it all refers to?" Really, I can't say there is one kingdom that is the only one good representation of Poland but I definitely know which one for me is the most important of them all in this game. All the rest is just a reference, something (or even many things) is only mentioned and descibed. Temeria is a case study of "what do you believe in, which political party do you support, at which point is your country today and where do you want it to go." Especially interesting in the context of our brand new president. Sorry it's so long, it's just this game that is so great on so many levels...:)